Markets continue to trade in red in afternoon session

Indian equity benchmarks continued to trade in red in afternoon session weighed down by selling in Capital Goods, power and metal stocks amid weak global cues. Selling was also witnessed in frontline blue chip stocks. Further, traders also opted to remain on the sidelines ahead of the press conference of the Prime Minister where he will seek to dispel the perception of policy paralysis and will also highlight the steps taken to boost the economy. Weak Asian cues and rupee depreciation against the dollar also added to the pessimistic sentiments. On stock specific movements, TCS, Infosys and Hero Motocorp were trading up by over 1.30%, while, Tata Power, M&M and Tata Motors were trading down by over 2.50% on BSE.

Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) is trading lower by around 3% at Rs 910, extending its 1.3% previous session’s fall, on reporting a 5.7% year-on-year (yoy) declined in total sales at 56,648 units in the month of December 2013. Shares of information technology (IT) companies were in focus and trading higher by up to around 3% on the BSE. Among other stocks, Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) is trading higher by nearly 4% to Rs 15.60 after the company has been awarded a contract worth Rs 443 crore by IRCON International to construct a tunnel and two bridges in Northern India.

On global front, Asian equity indices were trading in red with Seoul Composite down by 1.07% and Hang Seng down by 2.02%. Back home, the NSE Nifty and BSE Sensex were trading down their psychological 6,200 and 21,000 levels respectively. The market breadth on BSE was negative, out of 2,099 stocks traded, 920 stocks advanced, while 1,043 stocks declined on the BSE.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 20,800.82 down by 87.51 points or 0.42% after trading in a range of 20,856.23 and 20,758.03. There were 7 stocks advancing against only 23 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading mixed; the BSE Mid cap index was up by 0.03%, while Small cap index down by 0.12%.

The gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were IT up by 1.38%, Teck up by 1.22% and Consumer Durables up by 0.24%. While, Capital Goods down by 1.39%, Power down by 1.25%, Metal down by 1.24%, Auto down by 0.99% and Oil and Gas down by 0.73% were the losing indices. 

The top gainers on the Sensex were TCS up by 2.08%, Infosys up by 1.48%, Hero Motocorp up by 1.38%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.72% and HDFC Bank up by 0.59%. On the flip side, Tata Power down by 3.89%, M&M down by 2.60%, Tata Motors down by 2.51%, BHEL down by 2.10% and Hindalco Inds down by 1.86%.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the proposal to amend the policy on mega power projects. Meanwhile, power generating firms can take benefit from this policy only after fulfilling certain mandatory conditions as the developer must tie up at least 65 percent of the installed capacity through competitive bidding and remaining 35 percent of the installed capacity should be through the regulated tariff. Meanwhile, policy guidelines were also modified in 1998, 2002 and 2006 to encourage power development in the North Eastern region and Jammu & Kashmir.

According to the amended Mega Power Policy, in order to avail the benefits of duty-free imports of equipments for thermal power projects of capacity of 1,000 MW and above, and hydro power projects of 500 MW and above, provisional mega power project status certificate along with a fixed deposit receipt from any scheduled bank must be submitted as a security for a term of 60 months, which was earlier for 36 months. Mega Power Policy allows mega power projects to tie up electricity sales to distribution utilities through long-term power purchase agreements.

Further, to encourage power development in Jammu & Kashmir, CCEA approved construction of a 220 kv transmission system from Alusteng in the Srinagar valley to Leh and inter- connection system for various sub- stations in J&K at a cost of Rs 1,788.41 crore. The project will be implemented through Power Grid Corp within 42 months from the date of release of the first installment of funds and the project cost will be borne by the central government and the J&K Government in the ratio of 95:5. After commissioning of the transmission system, Operation & Maintenance (O&M) and other related activities will be carry out by J&K Government at their own cost.

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 6,192.45 down by 28.70 points or 0.46% after trading in a range of 6,209.05 and 6,178.85. There were 13 stocks advancing against 37 declining on the index.

The top gainers of the Nifty were TCS up by 1.86%, Hero Motocorp up by 1.55%, Infosys up by 1.33%, Maruti Suzuki up by 0.76% and DLF up by 0.75%. On the flip side, Tata Power down by 3.95%, M&M down by 2.75%, Tata Motors down by 2.61%, BHEL down by 2.47% and BPCL down by 1.99% were the major losers on the index.

The Asian equity indices were trading in red; Seoul Composite down by 1.07%, Hang Seng down by 2.02%, Straits Times down by 0.99%, Taiwan Weighted down by 0.77%, Jakarta Composite down by 1.16%, Shanghai Composite down by 1.41% and KLSE Composite down by 0.74%.